This was a Fire Retardant Plastic Box which was made for the SSR I/O Stackable Modules. DC Control for an AC Load. Usually it is to control another Big Three phase contactor;
Pneumatic or Steam Valve, Solenoids-Motors. When Mounted at the end of the PCB it offers over 2kV Isolation from the Digital Circuits. The Output 230V signals NO-NC, can control Light Loads like the Coil of a Big 230V Relay also called contactor.
It could be Mounted on a PCB by soldering or a Plugin Base. It is better to have Crimped connections or Terminals. A very good quality spring Loaded Socket may also work but it has to be rated for many operations. Things like Nickle Alloy Plated, Beryllium Copper were the Materials Jargon. A contact resistance in the Terminals, a mismatch of alloys, electrochemical reactions, Corrosive Fumes, Brine or High Humidity can build a Loose connection into a Dangerous Sparking Contact.
Not only the Functionality of the SSR will be affected in a Sparking Contact, but a Risk of a Fire Developing. When Inflammable Materials or Volatile Liquids are Present Nearby, the risk is even greater.
A computer can be used to control or automate systems. From turning
lights on/off at your home to shutting down motors or heaters in
industries. Speed control and PID Control too.
PC based
Instrumentation is easy to implement using USB Devices and Plugin Cards
for Test and Measurement. Most instruments can communicate with PC on
the GPIB interface.
USB
interfaces have made such PC based Data Acquisition and Controls much
easier. In the early days it was Printer Port and Serial Port. The
future is for Wireless Device Networking.
When
Intelligent Devices (embedded systems) are privately and securely
networked, it is called the Intranet of Things. This is like a
Home-Office-Business private closed Cloud. This is ideal for Home and
Infrastructure Automation and even Big Business or SMB Automation.
This
can get you started too. The few examples above show an instrumentation
- Logic Analyzer 'Like' interface and a relay-display driver circuit.
They are examples i tried for students to try out and learn.
Analog devices like transistors and diodes lead to opamps and analog computing. This takes more parts but with fast devices can be real time. Then came Logic and Digital Circuits, here also big systems will take too many parts. A very Old hp Logic Analyzer instrument, could be HP1607A, had more than five large PCBs, Toggle Switches and numerous 74Fxx TTL Chips. I tried to revive it, it could not be fully restored.
Embedded Microcontroller - delabs
Then came the solution the Microprocessor. Here the entire system goes into the firmware and a Hardware Tool Set in the Microprocessor made up of Logic and Math is sequentially used to perform the same operation that would require innumerable Gates in a plain hardware digital circuit. But as it performs the operations one after another, it takes time and is defined by the CPU Clock Speed.
When the External RAM and EPROM and other peripheral devices moved into the main package, MicroController were born. When more external devices merged with the MicroController. It formed a nearly complete computer, this is known as the SOC.
There are two things to learn, build something to completely learn a concept. This is a tough but thorough way of
learning. The easier way is to learn from examples. Hacking and Reverse Engineering also good for students to digest methods exhaustively.
This way leads to things like innovation/improvement and inventions. That is A Better way
I had once serviced a DMM decades ago. It had something like a custom 8039. This was decades back. It was a 5-1/2 or more. It had a Watchdog built with CMOS 40xx chips. I never understood watchdogs then, they were not even called watchdogs.
The "Tick" is the heartbeat of a RTOS, not only it keeps polling all peripheral chips or I/O, It cannot skip a beat, even high priority interrupts cannot stop the routine tasks or even delay them. If it has to sample a Analog level ten times a second and produce a output control byte at the same speed; It could be RTOS for Process Control. For a rocket this will not be RTOS. Speed and not missing a step. Many times faster than the process it is meant for, probably ?
Linear Circuit Design Handbook, edited by Hank Zumbahlen (Newnes, 2008), bridges the gap between circuit component theory and practical circuit design. Effective analog circuit design requires a strong understanding of core linear devices and how they affect analog circuit design.
This book provides complete coverage of important analog devices and how to use them in designing linear circuits, and serves as a useful learning tool and reference for design engineers involved in analog and mixed-signal design. Linear Circuit Design Handbook - Hank Zumbahlen
Chapters Include
Sensors, RF/IF Circuits, Converters. Analog Filters. Power Management and …
Chapter 5: Fundamentals of Sampled Data Systems
Chapter 7: Data Converter Support Circuitry
Chapter 11: Overvoltage Effects on Analog Integrated Circuits
This is the safe enclosure for the Encapsulated Mini RTD PT100 Transmitter and was first made for the Electronic Relay with no moving parts, The Solid State Relays - SSR.
Potted, Encapsulated in epoxy, hermetically sealed. It has a Nickel Plated Aluminum Plate insert molded. For removing heat from BTA41600. The plastic is a fire retardant high temperature grade.
The epoxy is ciba araldite, fine alumina is filler. A transparent terminal cover for safety. The BTA41600 from Thomson-CSF Semiconductor (STMicro) was Excellent for this application. The Metal tab of the device was Insulated from the Silicon inside the device. This device along with MOC3041 (motorola) made a great pair for IO control. Both devices may have had isolation in excess of 2000 V DC, if i remember right.
In case you have other Thyristors that do need insulation use Mica for Robust Applications, Silpads for moderate heat, PolySulfone Isolators for low heat. Alumina Blocks for High Heat and Excellent Isolation. The best being thin Alumina Slabs.
When the External RAM and EPROM and other peripheral devices moved into the main package, MicroController were born. When more external devices merged with the MicroController. It formed a nearly complete computer, this is known as the SOC.
